Comment by deanc
4 years ago
I have a specialized Vado sl. You can purchase a range extender and easily do over 100km with it, in reality closer to 200k. Any reason you didn’t consider this as it’s manufacturer supported?
4 years ago
I have a specialized Vado sl. You can purchase a range extender and easily do over 100km with it, in reality closer to 200k. Any reason you didn’t consider this as it’s manufacturer supported?
I've looked at that bike now. It's a regular e-bike, not an s-pedelec so quite a bit slower, also the range is very small. I like the looks though, very elegant. But like I wrote in the article, I'm probably faster on my old non assisted racer than I would be on that bike even though it would give me more range because it's assisted. The battery on my bike is more than four times as large, and will do 180 km at maximum assist, far faster than that Vado SL bike will go, and it's a different class of bike entirely (pedelec vs s-pedelec).
Are you driving the s-pedelec on bike lanes in NL? It’s illegal to do so here in Finland although it’s not well enforced and no way am I riding in traffic here. You’re also required to have a license plate for the s-pedelec here also.
Yes, this is legal here, not the square signed 'fietspad' paths but the iconic ones that are also used by scooters. The speed limit in town is 30 on those, outside it's 45.
I never even knew about the brand. The three that I looked at were Stromer, Bosch based systems and Klever. The Bosch based system won out because it doesn't use fancy one-off stuff, there is a fairly good source for spares (batteries, motors, controllers) and it seems to be the most reliable system on the market. The Stromers are a bit faster (higher powered motors), the Klever looks clunky and I've read a ton of stories about their reliability issues.
Will look at the Vado, thanks for the pointer.
Specialized is one of the most well-known bike brands among enthusiasts. Unfortunately also one most expensive ones.
But they have some interesting innovation going on, e.g. with the FutureShock system on rigid bikes, integration of storage in downtubes, their various suspension designs on mountainbikes, first dual-crown fork on an enduro bike, and their own e-bike system.
You can think of them as the Apple of the bike market.
I've looked a lot more at their bikes now, if 'Apple of the bike market' means overpriced fashion statement then I am inclined to agree. Those prices are absolutely ridiculous.
The Vado SL with the range extender still has a smaller battery than the Vado. If you want that kind of range all the time, isn't the Vado the better choice? At $450 for 160Wh, the Vado SL range extender is the worst deal in the Specialized catalog, and that's saying something!
The Vado is also twice as heavy. The SL is super light so that heavy battery is hauling a lot more weight around. The SL is for those who still want to cycle. The power of the normal Vado basically makes you redundant.